


The Party

by Hours_Gone_By



Series: The Adventures of Student!Jazz and Wizard!Prowl [7]
Category: Transformers - Aligned Continuity Family, Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Wizards, Camp Nanowrimo, Cooking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Energon, Established Relationship, Fluff, House Party, House Warming, M/M, Magic, May/December Relationship, Moving In Together, Mystical Creatures, No Plot/Plotless, Party, Romance, Romantic Fluff, energon goodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 18:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19818094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hours_Gone_By/pseuds/Hours_Gone_By
Summary: Jazz knew his lover's temperament pretty well, so he was surprised, but not about to refuse when Prowl suggested they have a housewarming party after Jazz moved in.





	The Party

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing but fluff, it'd blow away in a light breeze. Plus, I skip over a fair bit of the party because I'm a lot more like Wizard Prowl than I am Student Jazz.

Jazz picked up the last box of his belongings and looked around his dorm room for the final time. Everything was packed, and he'd set the cleaning drone to finish cleaning and polishing his side of the floor; where Jazz had lived was once again a blank slate. He'd said good-bye to his roommate, whose classes ran later than Jazz's, that morning and now he just had to walk away.

"Well, good-bye generic room," he said cheerily and turned to leave. His lover, the wizard Prowl, stood waiting for him on the other side of the door. Prowl had come into his life when Jazz had been housesitting over the summer. The wizard had arrived at the house to banish a wight, a preternatural creature he'd been hunting, that was haunting the house and feeding on Jazz's dreams. A mutual attraction had developed between them, but they hadn't moved on it then, not until Prowl had shown up in Altihex.

Jazz had kissed Prowl for the first time in the very doorway the wizard stood in now.

Since meeting Prowl Jazz had helped banish poltergeists, found a cursed mirror, watched Prowl free a mini-cassette from a movie, and helped Prowl locate and fight a warlock while they were in Crystal City. When they'd returned home, Prowl asked Jazz to move in with him, and Jazz had readily agreed. Being with Prowl felt _right_. Moving in with him felt _right_.

Now, Prowl favoured Jazz with a brief, loving smile that made Jazz feel warm through and through and asked, "are you ready?"

To live full-time with his wizard? "Oh yeah." Jazz braced the box on one hip and leaned over to pull Prowl into a kiss. "Let's go, babe."

Moving in with Prowl was easy – Jazz had been practically living there for deca-cycles anyway. The house had come furnished, and Jazz didn't have any furniture, so there was no clash there. Jazz had a few knickknacks, mostly souvenirs his mentor had brought him back from tours and some holos, that he scattered through the rest of the house. Most of Jazz's possessions were destined for the music room, which had been Jazz's space even before he moved in. Prowl gave over the library on the third floor for Jazz's use as well, saying he had no use of it since he had a workshop in the basement and he didn't want Jazz to feel his interests confined to one room. So that made the third floor entirely Jazz's and the basement, with Prowl's workshop and the kitchen, the wizard's domain. When the wizard remembered to do fuel prep more complicated than pouring from the dispenser, Prowl could make the most amazing treats.

Jazz had spent most of his free time in the house with Prowl even before Crystal City, and that made moving in easy too. Now he lived there, slept there, fuelled there, his things were there, and, most importantly, _Prowl_ was there. The dorm had just been a place to stay. Now, Jazz was _home_.

* * *

"When do you want to have the party?" Prowl asked Jazz over dinner one night, a few mega-cycles after Jazz officially moved in.

"Party?" Jazz asked, wondering why _Prowl_ of all mecha was bringing something like a party up. Then it clicked. "Oh, you mean a housewarming party? Didn't think that'd be your thing." It was Jazz's, but he hadn't really given a whole lot of thought to planning one since he figured Prowl wouldn't particularly enjoy it.

"It isn't," Prowl admitted. "But it is yours. It's your home as well, darling. If it will make you happy – and I know that it will – then we should have a housewarming party."

"What restrictions and rules do you have for a house party?" Jazz asked. Even his mentor, as easy-going as Half-step was, had had those. Once Jazz had thrown a couple, he got why.

Prowl only smiled at him. "I trust you. You certainly know more about such things."

"I still want your input," Jazz told him. "It's your housewarming too. You've gotta have some idea of what you want or don't want. I mean, wizards must have parties, right?" He tried to picture it, but the only wizards he'd met were Prowl, Quickshadow, and Sigil. He supposed Shockwave had counted before Sigil ripped his magic from him during the fight, but he _really_ didn't think the warlock got many invitations.

Prowl chuckled quietly. "Yes, but not very often and not with many of us. Large gatherings of wizards easily turn into arguments – or duels. Duels can even lead to outright battles sometimes if you can convince more than two wizards to join the same side of an argument."

"Really?" Jazz supposed every wizard couldn't be calm and mild like Prowl, but duels seemed a bit extreme.

Prowl nodded. "There used to be a city called Chelydrus in the Hydrax Canyons. Then Magister Incantatus held a ball. That was before my time but, as I understand it, it's why few people living have ever heard of Chelydrus."

Jazz certainly hadn't. He hadn't even known there used to be a city in the Hydrax Canyons.

"Right, so – let's maybe keep the number of wizard invites down, then. I mean, obviously we're not going to ask Shockwave, but what about Quickshadow and Sigil?" Jazz asked.

Shockwave had abducted Magister Sigil to experiment on and put a compulsion spell on Quickshadow, Sigil's apprentice, preventing her from telling anyone. Fortunately for her, the geas had been broken when Shockwave had lost his magic.

"I will extend the invitation, but it's unlikely they'll arrive. Sigil has been quite busy assisting Crystal City's Enforcers in the cleanup of Shockwave's lab, and Quickshadow must mind the store," literally; Sigil owned and operated a magical supply store, "while he does so. He may not be able to get away for anything you intend to happen in - ?"

"Does five mega-cycles sound okay?" That'd bring them to a weekend and give Jazz time to get everything and everyone together. He'd never had a housewarming before, and he had Ideas. Maybe even Plans. "Starting in the evening?"

"Of course, darling. I'll make sure to keep myself from getting too involved in my own projects at that time," Prowl said agreeably.

"I'll do my best to make sure it isn't too overwhelming for you," Jazz promised. He had a feeling Prowl wasn't a big one for a noisy, crowded party, especially if it went on too long. "Won't mind if you need to take a few kliks somewhere quiet during it either."

Prowl gave him one of his soft, warm smiles that made Jazz feel all melty inside. "Thank you, my dear."

* * *

Jazz had no problems getting his friends and classmates interested in coming to a party at his new place. Only a few of them had met Prowl, and all of them were curious about him. It wasn't like Jazz had been keeping his relationship a secret – he couldn't if he'd wanted to after that first kiss in the doorway of his dorm room – or that he never brought Prowl along when he went out with his friends. It was just that Prowl tended to fade into the background, or try to, and didn't really have enough in common with them to hold up his end of a conversation, though he did put in questions occasionally. About all Jazz's friends really knew about Prowl was that he wasn't a student and that he and Jazz were _really_ into each other.

Prowl kept his word, and on the night of the party was ready to play host along with Jazz. Jazz did not have to go and coax him out of his workshop or remind him about the influx of what Prowl called 'bright young things' coming their way. Prowl had spent the day readying treats and setting them out in the common areas where the party would be centred. He'd also put 'keep away' charms on the areas they didn't want people wandering into.

The real flood of guests started about a quarter cycle after the time Jazz had given for the start of the event. Jazz was naturally more at home in a crowd than Prowl, and they got separated while Jazz mingled and Prowl – was Prowl. At first, Jazz kept tabs on the wizard, even just out of the corner of his optic, but then Pulse brought out a guitar and Chorale sang along, and Jazz brought down his electro-bass and jammed with them for a while, losing track of Prowl. When the session ended, Jazz tucked his electro-bass into his subspace, secure in its case, and went looking for his lover.

Prowl was curled up in a chair on the far side of the room, feet tucked up on the cushion, arms around his knees, watching the mecha in the room. Jazz, unable to read his lover's expression through the crowd, frowned and made his way over to the wizard, talking to people who came up to him just long enough not to be rude. When he made it over to Prowl, Jazz crouched down by the chair and put a hand on the arm for balance.

' _Hey, love,'_ Jazz commed, to avoid having to shout over the noise of the throng. Even if things didn't get really personal, this wasn't something everyone needed to overhear. _'Is everything okay? I can start shutting things down if it's getting to be too much._ '

' _I'm fine,'_ Prowl assured him. ' _I just wanted to sit and watch for a while. Why?'_

_'It's just the way you're all curled up – wasn't sure if that was for comfort or to be comfortable, you know?'_

Prowl, understanding, uncurled and covered Jazz's hand with his own. _'It was to be comfortable, sweetspark, that's all. It was not my intent to worry you.'_

 _'Okay, good,'_ Jazz responded, relieved, ' _because I really would kick everyone out if you weren't happy.'_

Prowl smiled warmly at him. ' _I know. Don't worry. Enjoy the party, please.'_

 _'Will do, lover.'_ Jazz looked at him hopefully. ' _Kiss?_ '

' _But of course, my dear_.'

Prowl leaned over, hand coming up to cup the student's jaw. The kiss was brief and wholly chaste but sweet and good.

"Come with me?" Jazz invited, holding out a hand. "I want you to have fun too. There's gotta be more than a few people here you haven't met. Might be someone you have something in common with?"

Prowl seemed to weigh his decision for a nano-klik then let Jazz pull him to his feet as the musician rose. "It is possible. Let's go see."

Jazz did find some people Prowl hadn't met yet. One of them, Glyph, even Jazz didn't know because they were the date of one of his friends. She turned out to be some kind of student of Ancient Cybertronian languages, among other things, and promptly and accidentally monopolized Prowl with a scholar's zeal. Jazz stayed in the conversation till it got way over his head, then kissed Prowl's cheek and took off to greet some new arrivals.

* * *

Prowl watched as his conversation partner was, laughing and swearing they'd pick up their talk later, drawn away into the crowd of dancers by her date. Prowl had enjoyed the discussion, even if he'd had to raise his voice for most of it to be heard over the crowd, but the interruption had come at an excellent time. He wanted a brief respite from the noise and the crush, and this break and a few empty treat and hors d'oeuvre trays gave him a perfect excuse to take one.

Prowl collected the empty trays, including a few he'd created by combining almost-empty ones, and went to the kitchen. Two of the dishes were smeared with antimony icing, and he used washing them immediately as an excuse to extend his respite. Perhaps Jazz's friends found him strange – Prowl held no rancour at the thought, he was used to such things – but they certainly seemed to enjoy his cooking.

Perhaps he extended his break too far because, just as he was filling new trays to take up to the party, the hors d'oeuvres being long gone, Jazz came in.

"Hey, babe," his darling said, arms wrapping around his waist. "You doing okay?"

"I'm fine, dearspark," Prowl told him, looking into his optic band. Jazz looked at Prowl the same way Jazz looked when he played, and Prowl loved it. "I simply needed a few kliks of quiet. Was I gone too long?"

"The party's spilled out onto the terrace," Jazz said, idly playing with some of Prowl's back kibble. "Couple people mentioned wondering where we went when they saw me out there. Guess they thought we'd moved to different parts of the house and they just hadn't seen us. I saw a couple of the trays were gone and I figured you'd used them as a reason to come down here. So are you good?"

"I'm good," Prowl assured him, using Jazz's vernacular purely for the quick little smile it always got him. "I was just about to return with more treats for the tables."

"Cool. I've been getting asked who our caterer was, by the way," Jazz said. "Your cooking's a big hit."

"Perhaps I should leave alchemy behind and cook for a living," Prowl mused. It was good to be confident his lover would understand he was teasing and – yes, Jazz was playing along, mock-pouting.

"But then you'd have less time to cook for me!" the younger mech pretend-protested. "Nah, Prowler," Jazz continued more seriously, "if it makes you happy, go for it. You really are good."

"Thank you, my dear," Prowl said, meaning it. "And I will always have time for you." He pulled Jazz closer and kissed him tenderly, relishing the warm mouth under his own.

Prowl had known when he tracked the last wight on Cybertron to a house on the edge of the tundra that his life was about to change. He had not known it would change like this. He kissed Jazz again, a reminder of life and companionship after a long time alone, lingering for the pure enjoyment of it.

"Dunno what I did to deserve you, babe," Jazz said, smiling softly, "but I'm really glad, whatever it was. Ready to grab the trays and go back up? Or – well, the party'll break up sooner once the fuel's gone."

Prowl was tempted, very tempted, to take advantage of the out Jazz offered him. But this housewarming party was for Jazz and Prowl knew his lover was enjoying himself. He didn't want to disrupt that.

"Thank you, my dear," Prowl said, "but I'll manage. Perhaps I'll head out to the terrace where it may be quieter and less crowded."

Jazz nodded. "Sure, Prowler. And you know you can duck down here or into your workshop or wherever whenever you like. I just came looking to make sure you were okay. I can take the trays on my own, too, if you want."

"It's quite alright," Prowl assured him, appreciating once again how thoughtful and attentive Jazz was to him. "We'll help each other." He indulged himself in one more kiss, then they loaded themselves up with more trays of snacks and went back to their guests.

* * *

The party went later into the night than even Jazz had expected. It was ten cycles after midnight before the last guest, _not_ in shape to drive, was gently loaded into a transport and sent home. Jazz shut and locked the door, then trudged back to the living room, picking up stray cubes and plates on his way. He was tired, but the mess wasn't going to get any easier to clean up if it was left overnight. Jazz would rather stay up a bit later than deal with stale energon and crumbs when he woke up.

Prowl was in the kitchen, leftovers efficiently put away, putting the second load of dishes through the washer when Jazz came down with the last of the dishes, and some trash.

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight, my dear?" Prowl inquired as Jazz set his burden down and started to sort dishes from trash, and then trash from recyclables.

"Oh yeah!" Tired as he was, Jazz smiled happily. "I had a great time. You?"

"I found the whole thing quite enjoyable," Prowl said, to Jazz's surprise. "Though I would not want to host one every night."

"Mmm, me neither, to be honest." Jazz looked around for a place to set the now-empty trays. Prowl took them from him and put them next to the sinks. "Lotta fun, lotta work."

"True." Prowl closed the dishwasher and left it to run. "I think the rest can wait."

"Yeah, I'm ready to call it a night too. You coming?"

"Yes, Jazz."

Once they got up to their room, Prowl kissed Jazz good-night and went to take a quick shower. Jazz offered to wash his back and doors, but the wizard refused, and Jazz understood he wanted some space. So, Jazz stole another kiss and flopped onto the bed, stretching out on his side. The bed heated quickly once it registered his weight and Jazz was lulled to sleep by comfort and warmth within kliks. He had a moment of sleepy awareness when Prowl, carrying the faint scents of hot solvent and polish and still warm from the shower, lay down and put an arm over him, but otherwise, he was out until very late in the morning.

Prowl was gone from their bed when Jazz woke up, but that wasn't surprising. The wizard wasn't one to laze around in bed very long, not unless Jazz gave him a reason to.

Jazz grabbed a quick shower and wandered to the lower floors to find Prowl, who was sitting on the terrace in the sun, apparently looking intently at nothing. Jazz, who knew better, figured Prowl was either lost in thought or looking at something non-wizards couldn't see.

Jazz left him to it for a few kliks and went down to the kitchen for energon. Even once Jazz had fuelled and put his cube in the washer – emptied from last night's load of dishes – and gone back up, Prowl was still at it. Fuelling had helped wake Jazz up even more, and now he was curious. He wandered outside, and Prowl looked over his shoulder as Jazz came up behind him.

"Morning, lover," Jazz said, dropping down to sit beside Prowl. He leaned over and kissed his wizard 'hello.' "What're you up to?"

"I told you once that we leave traces of ourselves in the places we inhabit, do you recall?" Prowl asked. It sounded random, but Jazz knew by now the seeming non-sequitur was leading somewhere.

"I remember," Jazz told him. "You said that the first time we saw the house. I'd just said it felt empty."

"Yes." Prowl looked pleased, in that way he did when Jazz was putting together one of the wizard's lessons. "Think back to that and compare it to what you feel now. Your sensitivity should be more than enough to do so."

"Okay." Jazz resettled himself, imitating Prowl's posture without thinking about it. He spent a minute just…letting himself feel, thinking about the house and its atmosphere.

It didn't feel the way it did the first time he'd been in it – thank Primus and Prowl – and it didn't feel the way it did when it was just the two of them there. It felt kind of like the party, or – no, not quite. Like _after_ the party, but not quite in a way that exactly made sense to Jazz.

"There's kind of a-an echo?" Jazz offered after a couple of kliks of that. "I mean, not really but that's the best I can describe it."

"Yes. When you have a large number of people, they leave a large number of traces."

"But that's not what you're looking at," Jazz guessed.

"No," Prowl said, still pleased. "There are beings – creatures – that are attracted to those traces."

"Feeding?"

"Playing. Not every mystical entity is negative or malicious. Here." Prowl put his arm around Jazz's shoulders, and Jazz leaned into him, head on his shoulder. "Connect with me and give me access to your visual feed, Jazz? I want to splice you into mine so you can see what I see."

"Sure," Jazz said and complied eagerly.

Jazz took in and recorded more sensory input than he actively processed, just like pretty much everyone. Prowl could handle more data at once than anyone Jazz had ever known or heard of. Jazz interpreted sensory input differently than Prowl, and that difference was slight but significant. One of the more fun things they did was for Jazz to transfer a packet of full sensory information, not just tactile, to Prowl and have him analyze it through his systems then play it back. When Prowl did that, there were whole new levels of light, sound, texture and more that Jazz just didn't usually experience. Jazz had never looked through Prowl's optics as such before, but seeing things the way Prowl did, or could – yeah, Jazz was into that.

Of course, like a lot of things he experienced with or around Prowl, it was pretty weird at first.

"Whoa," Jazz said, startled into stating the obvious. "I can see myself." He chuckled. "I'm so cute, snuggled up against you."

Prowl smiled down at him and _wow_ was looking into his own faceplate like this strange!

"Yes, you are," Prowl said, with a soft laugh. "But as much as I enjoy looking at you, there's something else I want you to see."

Prowl looked up and out into the terrace, and at first, Jazz thought they were seeing some kind of weird light refraction off the crystals. It took a little bit to adjust, but then he understood that what they were looking at was some sort of mystical creature, like translucent multicoloured ribbons of light. They weren't bright, washed out by Hadeen's rays, but they were still beautiful. They swooped and drifted through the air, obeying rules Jazz didn't understand, and as Prowl had said they were playing with, or around, something. Even using Prowl's systems, Jazz couldn't make out what that was, though.

"The traces we spoke of are invisible to me, too," Prowl said softly as if their voices might disturb the creatures. "But still."

"Yeah," Jazz breathed. "Wow…Will they stay long?"

"They'll remain for a few cycles." Prowl tucked Jazz a little more closely into his side. "You may stay as long as you wish."

"Hope you're comfortable, then." Jazz shifted, just a bit, into a position that would be more comfortable long-term. "Hey, babe, I know I don't have magic but this sensitivity you say I have; can you teach me how to use it better? As a regular thing, I mean, not just when stuff happens – not that I'm complaining because this, right here, this is _astounding_."

"Yes," Prowl agreed, then clarified. "Yes, it is astounding, every time, and yes, I'll instruct you in its use, as best I can considering my different perceptions. I'll have to think about how to do it first."

"No problem, Prowler." Jazz watched the creatures dart and swirl through the air above the terrace of the house. _Their_ house, his and Prowl's. Jazz smiled softly, content. "I'm not going anywhere."

**Author's Note:**

> The inspirations for Prowl’s house are:
> 
>   * [See Inside a Gilded Age Townhouse on the Upper East Side](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/g21273743/upper-east-side-gilded-age-townhouse/)
>   * [Sold for $42million - the Gilded Age New York City mansion with seven floors and its own servants' quarters (butler not included)](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163800/Sold-42million--Gilded-Age-New-York-City-mansion-seven-floors-servants-quarters.html)
>   * The [floor plan](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/24/article-2163800-13BE22AD000005DC-488_964x533.jpg) is based on the house in the latter link, excluding the seventh floor and substituting the music room for the third-floor bedroom suite.
> 



End file.
